Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to lighting direction control in an illumination apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
In one conventional type of flash shooting, an illumination apparatus emits light toward a ceiling and the like, so that the light is reflected and diffused by the ceiling and the like, to illuminate a subject (hereinafter referred to as “bounce flash shooting”). In the bounce flash shooting, the illumination apparatus can emit light indirectly, not directly, to the subject, and therefore, an image can be obtained with gentle light.
Further, techniques for automatically determining an optimum lighting direction in the bounce flash shooting have been discussed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 04-340527 discusses a technique for automatically setting an angle of a flash emitting unit when the flash emitting unit emits a flash toward a ceiling in the bounce flash shooting. More specifically, the angle of the flash emitting unit is automatically set, based on information about a distance to an object located above a camera and about a subject distance.
Meanwhile, there is a so-called self-timer function that causes shooting to start after a lapse of a predetermined time following provision of an image shooting instruction by a photographer. However, shooting by using the self-timer function is not considered in the conventional technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 04-340527.